Beginning Sunday, March 22, at 8 p.m., US 6 will be closed between US 40 and SH 119 to accommodate planned work on the Peaks to Plains Trail project. The highway will reopen Saturday, March 28 at 5 p.m. This closure limits access to I-70 from Golden; access to Black Hawk and Central City from Golden will remain open.

As always, contact the Public Information Team at or p2ptrail@publicinfoteam.com for more information. You can also check out the project blog at peaks2plains.wordpress.com.

About This WorkThis six-day closure will allow crews to install an underpass for the Clear Creek County section of the trail just east of Tunnel 5. This will enable the trail to safely “cross” US 6 and follow the Creek and join up with the Jefferson County portion of the trail. The underpass is a critical connector for the new, 4-mile trail, and will be 8 feet wide, 10 feet tall and 126 feet long.

Crews will work in two, 12-hour shifts to complete the work on time. In order to complete this work, guardrail, asphalt and bridge slabs will be removed. Then, crews will dig into the ground and set a large, pre-constructed concrete culvert into place. Dirt and other excavated materials will then be “backfilled,” or replaced.

For Your SafetyThe highway will be closed to traffic for the safety of the traveling public. Motorists are encouraged to plan alternate routes to I-70 from Golden in advance of travel. Once again, travel to Black Hawk and Central City will not be impacted.

This construction work will require crews to dig a hole in the ground that is deeper than the deep end of a swimming pool. Heavy equipment and machinery will be needed in order to complete the underpass. There will be no room to safely navigate the traveling public around the work, making it necessary to completely close the road.

All local emergency service providers have been notified of the closure, and signs will be posted to notify local motorists.

In case of inclement weather, backup dates for this work will be Sunday, March 29, at 8 p.m. through Saturday, April 4, at 5 p.m.

The images enclosed depict a map of the construction zone, and what the finished product will look like.

A rendering of the finished product.

A map showing the construction zone.

This information is a public crowdsourcing effort between the Access Fund,
and Mountain Project.You should confirm closures, restrictions, and/or related dates.

Ouch!!! I'm not sure if I should cringe from stupidity or blush with embarrasment. Ordinarily when putting up a line I make it a cardinal policy to remain on my jumars until I am completely off the pitch. On Learning to Crawl (Alan's name by right of rescue), I had finished placing all of the bolts but the first. For some reason, I was working out the first clip bouldering around the base. I had tested the rock for integrity and resistance to a downward pull, and in bouldering the move pulled a large block horizontally. Needless to say, as the block pulled, I pitched over backwards and jammed my foot between a small rock and the wall. This set up a rotating spin around the ankle, which sprained badly immediately. It swelled instantly to basketball size. I got my shirt off and tied it up as well as possible, abandoned the gear, and began the hobble back down. By the time I reached the base, I had fully sprained the other ankle. Thinking both were broken, I drove into the emergency room whereupon both ankles were X-rayed and casted. Having left all of my gear on the hill, I called Alan...who responded by humping around the hill in the dark, rapping down to the line, collecting all of my gear, and humping both loads back to the car. Not, however, before Anna (ABS) who had trucked me from the emergency room to the crag an hour so after Alan's departure, managed to give us both a scare by hiking up to the crag. This was before the trail was put in, and Alan I both figured her to pitch off the 3rd class ledge into the river, which she did not. Any lesson here? Nothing intelligent on my part, however, when things go wrong it is surprising how wrong they can go and how quickly. We may be climbing close to home, but we are still in the mountains and they still demand respect. I did not think I was being careless, but I was tired, and I paid little attention to the base and the potential consequences of a fall. It is amusing now because the consequences were not great, but all too often the outcome of our carelessness is far more serious.

This was the first route we did on the wall today. It was a great warmup, well laid out, intuitive, fun, and scenic. A nice preview of other stuff in the area. Now that I read Richard's story of setting it, it's even better.

Felt this was a 10a and NQB was 10c, although slab is not my style, and I felt the slab was much more difficult on NQB, hence the rating. Really fun route, but watch out for loose holds in the roof. I think all the flakes look a little sketchy, and a few are definitely loose and need to be knocked down. I was matched on one that had to weigh at minimum 25 pounds and was the best option in the roof before I noticed the faint X on it. I promptly moved around to the right. Be careful on this, and look carefully in the roof. Loose rock should be avoidable, and it shouldn't deter you from this route.